RS

MEMBER DIARY

The Way of the Gun

Sooner or later- probably sooner- Americans will be left with two choices: freedom, or a safety at the mercy of bureaucrats who will have a monopoly on force. I know this may seem overdramatic and paranoid to some, but I am not saying that banning “assault” rifles will result to complete loss of freedom. I am saying it will never be enough. Enough will be when the word “gun” becomes illegal. Then they’ll find something else to ban…because people will still hurt one another and freedom is just a another word for nothing left to lose.

Things have changed. For whatever reason (s), people are going crazy. As much as we would like, things will never be the same again. They never are.

Safety First

For people who think safety can be achieved without changing human behavior and aren’t particularly aware (or are completely naïve) of the atrocities committed by governments who’ve had a monopoly on force, gun bans and/or more control seem like good ideas. To a certain degree, I suppose I agree. The president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence stated on CNN that forty percent of gun buyers purchase firearms without having their background checked (I must say, I am highly suspicious of this claim, seeing as how every time I’ve purchased a firearm, I had to wait while the dealer called the FBI to make sure I am not a lunatic, and I’ve never heard any different from other gun owners, including when buying at gun shows). So check our background. I won’t argue with that. I don’t want lunatics in possession of firepower either. And if you can efficiently and systematically give people some form of a psychiatric evaluation, I’m not sure I disagree with that either. But I can’t help but believe such measures will probably be misconducted, or be completely useless, seeing as how it is nearly impossible- unless the individual is growling and trying to gnaw your face off during the evaluation- to determine if someone will shoot and kill a lot of people sometime in the future..

Another point anti-gunners have is the power street weapons have these days (it’s too much). Large-capacity clips were obviously not the case when the Bill of Rights was being put together. But do we have so little faith in ourselves and so much in others that we think they are far more capable of handling considerably more power than us? (I know for many the answer is a resounding “Yes!”) Let’s be rational, people. Anybody remember Abu Ghraib? You know… where soldiers peed on detainees. Ya. That’s who would have significantly more firepower than us. Detainee-peeing soldiers. Or what about the numerous scandals which have brought to light thousands of corrupt police officers? ( See Operation Tow Scam, Rampart Scandal, The Kathryn Johnson shooting, and many others for just a crumb. In fact, I’m sure by the time you read this, there will be a fresh batch of scandals all ready to outrage you.)

Okay. I change my mind. Any way you slice it, gun bans are a terrible idea (not to mention illegal-as in, against the law). Gun bans seems like an ideal concept… if we lived in an ideal world. But we don’t. Just because you lay your weapon down and pretend to live in a world where if you go first, the lunatic will follow, does not mean Lunatic will follow. He does not play by the same rules as you and I. The world is a mean place. It’s true. I promise you. And since it is a mean place, people of all walks of life and degrees of power will want to hurt you. It has always been the case and will continue to be so.

Since we don’t live in a fluffy world where pretty ideas work because things always go exactly as we want it to, yet we’ve determined that things can’t be the same anymore, What are we to do?

The Remedy

If we want to live in a world where we will be free to express our wacky views and worship whatever or whomever it is we want without the fear or threat of a entity more powerful than us, we will have to give up the freedom to not carry… as in, a firearm. I know this seems preposterous to a generation who has been told over and over that guns have a mind of their own, and it is a wicked little mind who pulls its own trigger and people should be highly intimidated by Mr. Mean Gun because he will turn himself around and blow your face away if you piss him off. But I assure you, it’s a great idea. Ask the Swiss and the Israelis (those people are born with a firearm in their hands). They have shooting tournaments at carnivals. Did I mention they have ridiculously low crime rates?

A teacher and the principle of Sandy Hook both lunged at the Newtown Lunatic in attempts to stop him. Who’s to say that, had either one of those staff members been carrying, the killing wouldn’t have been greatly reduced, if not completely deterred?

There seems to be a current of completely imbecile thinking flowing through this great land which states that the only bullets who can stop the heartbeat of people are those coming out of the barrel of Lunatic’s firearm. Apparently, any bullets derived from a firearm which is aimed at Lunatic will hit anybody but a bad guy. This is an argument which causes a lot of head nodds. But I assure you it’s a poor argument lacking of huevos. Proof is the December 12, 2013 San Antonio Mayan 14 Theater shooter who was stopped by an armed citizen in a crowded theatre. And guess what? The armed citizen shot the shooter four times without shooting any bystanders. I guess bullets aren’t biased after all.

We must accept that we have created a world where the fear of God Almighty no longer exists because the media and education systems have told people such is the case; God doesn’t exist because only people who can’t read believe He does. So, if potential crazies don’t fear their Maker, they must fear something else. It’s obviously not going to be the authorities.

It’s going to have to be me and you.

I want the fear of my .380 to constantly stab at the mind of every potential whack-job who wants to senselessly harm anyone. I want the fear of my sister’s teacher’s .45 to be a constant nag in the mind of any poor soul whose thought has a though considering hurting innocent people. I want the fear of your magnum or .38 Special to lie in the frontal lobe of every thug walking the street who’s looking for easy prey; I want scum to know there is no easy prey. We are sick and tired of being portrayed as weak. And if they don’t develop that fear, that’s fine because my bullets aren’t prejudiced.

Lastly, I want the fear of all 300 million plus American-owned firearms to be on the mind of any potential group of tyrants who don’t think a person’s freedom is more important than blind, unquestionable submission to the State. I love America and I think the many great things the U.S. has done for human rights and humanitarian causes all over the world is nothing less than amazing. But the reality is that Government is not a single-minded entity. It can, as it has in the past, be taken over and turned on its own people. Even Democratic ones. And unlike the hundreds who have been mercilessly killed by random acts of horrific violence, when Mr. State gets to getting off rounds, the damage ends up in the MILLIONS.

Yes. Something has to be done. But if you think disarming law-abiding citizens and leaving all the fire power to our pee-happy government employees and thugs is the answer, then I will leave you with a few reminders of damage done by complete power.

Here’s a short list of government mass murder carried out throughout history, almost always immediately following the disarmament of the public.